TL;DR:

• Thinking better all day long involves commitment, word choice, and reflection.
• Consider the power of I AM statements.
• Paying attention to your word choice is a major piece of the thinking better puzzle.

When it comes to thinking better, it’s important to remember that this is a process.  A process that we get to practice each day. The previous two articles in the Think Better series captured thinking better during your morning and evening routines. And now, it’s time to expand this concept to thinking better throughout each and every day.

The practice we engage in with intentionality is what then leads to our growth and expansion of who we are as educators.  And the best part is that as we expand as educators, we naturally and genuinely expand in every other role that we serve throughout the day. 

When we think better in one area of our lives, I believe we organically think better across all areas. This is one area you no longer have to choose. You get to have it all. You get to think authentically inside the classroom and school setting, as well as at home, in the community, or any other place you may be. 

'I am' is one of the most powerful sentence starters we have. What follows after I am is immediately picked up by our subconscious minds and understood as truth. Click To Tweet

Step 1: Thinking Better ALL day long starts with COMMITMENT.

It’s time to understand once and for all that you are worth committing to.  It’s time to hold the identity that you are someone who believes and values commitment. Commitment to who you are is essential for any change to take place. And it’s a pretty easy step in the process. Are you ready? Here it goes. Repeat after me: I commit to me! 

How many of you are thinking, “That can’t possibly be it? It can’t possibly be that easy?”

If you are thinking that, I totally understand! I was there too! But, before you start to doubt the process, go back to step 1.

Read it one more time. 

Thinking Better ALL day long starts with COMMITMENT.

All step one states is to commit, which is exactly what you are doing when you declare I commit to me! So often we overcomplicate steps along the way because we are used to multi-step problems and complex situations. We are educators after all! As soon as we unpack and learn one standard or understand one initiative, another one is already being given to us. So if step 1 feels too simple for you, that’s okay! It’s supposed to! 

Step 2: Thinking Better ALL day long continues with WORD CHOICE.

Have you ever taken a sample of the words you are speaking throughout the day? I remember the first time I did this. I carried a notebook around with me that had two columns on the paper. One column was labeled serves me and the other was does not serve me.

As I went throughout the day, after I said something, I would simply put a tally mark in the column that aligned with what I had said. For example, a statement of “I am so stressed right now” would be a tally mark for the does not serve me column. And a statement of “I’m grateful for the sunshine today” would be a tally for the serves me column. 

And after one hour, I realized I didn’t need to continue tallying anymore. It was in that practice I realized I desperately needed to change the language I was speaking. I encourage each of you to try this out for at least one hour (more if you can) and to see where your words end up on your own chart! 

The Power of I AM

I am is one of the most powerful sentence starters we have. What follows after I am is immediately picked up by our subconscious minds and understood as truth. Statements like:

I am…

• overwhelmed.
• stressed.
• never going to figure this out.

These all lead to us finding experiences to validate the truth of those statements. And the challenge with this is that the words we are speaking could be your thoughts. It could be your spoken words. It could be a text message you send. Or it could be a combination of all three. 

Paying attention to your word choice is a major piece of the thinking better puzzle. By ensuring the words we speak serve us, we create thought patterns throughout the day that do the same. 

Looking for simple and easy ways to change your word choice? Try these out!

• Keep “I AM” for phrases and sentences that serve you! 
• Turn statements that do not serve you into I feel statements. For example, turn “I am stressed,” into “I feel stressed.” 
• Drop words like but, just and only. 
• Make simple switches of have to, need to, or should into get to, love to, choose to.
• Add context to statements. For example: “I am stuck” becomes “I feel stuck when I’m not sure what step to take first.” 

Step 3: Thinking Better ALL day long repeats with reflection.

Now that we’ve made a commitment and focused on our language, the last step is to reflect. My favorite way to reflect is through energetic check-ins during the day.  When I first started these check-ins, I would set reminder alarms on my phone to keep myself accountable. Nowadays, I do them as I need them based on what I am thinking and feeling throughout each day. 

[scroll down to keep reading]

What do the check-ins look like?

Again, I like to keep things simple. So for me, they look like this: 

• Take a deep breath.
• Ask myself how I am feeling.
• Check-in with my thoughts.
• Make any adjustments to negative thoughts I discover (For example: if I am feeling tired and want to feel energized, I may listen to a pump-me-up song or have a drink of cold water).

It Gets to Be Easy

Thinking better throughout the day doesn’t have to be complicated. Could it involve more steps than in this article? Of course! But with these three steps, you will be well on your way to thinking better throughout the whole day.

It all starts with small, simple, and strategic steps that align with who you are! So the question now becomes, are you ready to think better throughout the day?

Make the commitment, make those language changes, and reflect on your process. It gets to be easy and it gets to be simple too! 

---

About Lindsay Titus

Lindsay Titus is a K-12 Behavior Specialist with a license in behavior analyst. As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, Lindsay coaches and trains educators on the study of behavior and how to implement evidence based behavior principles in simple and easy ways! With experience as a classroom special education teacher, and behavior specialist in public schools, residential placement, and private settings, Lindsay enjoys working with all educators looking to reignite their passion for education, connect with all students, and conquer challenging behavior in any classroom setting.